Mark Pescott
Age 49
Sailing Experience 85.000 miles

It was as a teenager that I started building my first multihull, a 28’ Crowther Buccaneer 28 trimaran in the back yard at Mum and Dads in Brisbane. During this time, while picking up some parts from Geoff Cruse, I met with Ross Blair who was also building a Buccaneer 28.

After a few years “learning the ropes” in Moreton Bay, I set off in 1981 on what was the first of many cruises on the wonderful Queensland Coast. Between cruises I worked learning the boat building trade.

In 1984 I raced on D Flawless taking every race of the 1984 AMOC series on line honours.

After my 4th Barrier Reef cruise north, in 1984 to Thursday Island I settled in Cairns working with Bob Shanks helping to build such boats as the Catana 40 Gotcha Covered, Top Gun and latter, A Room with a View.

In 1985 I set off in Yarrageh on my first offshore cruise to New Guinea with one very green and inexperienced crew.

With the autopilot out of action we took turns on the helm in the 30 knot winds and rugged seas. I also struggled with my as yet unproven self taught celestial navigation.

A short but rough 3 day passage and the New Guinea coast turned up right where it should have been, the beginning of an exciting 2 month cruise through the remote and magical Louisiade Archipelago.
After returning to Cairns I sold Yarrageh and started to design and build my first catamaran, Summersalt based on lengthened and modified 29’ Crowther Harrier hulls.

Funds ran out before completion and I was asked to build the 38’ Shaun Arber designed Spirit of Cairns / No Fixed Address.
After competing in the 1988 2 Handed Around Australia Race on the 60’ Crowther Trimaran Power Brewing, I returned to Cairns to finish Summersalt.

On 2 more Queensland coast cruises Summersalt proved to be a fantastic cruising home, a pleasure to sail and seaworthy cat also proving her worth on the race course, twice winning Hamilton Island Race Week as well as twice taking line honours in the Townsville to Cairns Race.

Summersalt also won the Coral Sea Classic in 1993 completing the 460 miles from Cairns to Port Moresby in less than 36 hours.

With many people interested in her fine performance for a 9.8m cat that had a surprising amount of room, I drew up the plans for a modified version, the Summersalt 10.1 before departing on my first cruise to Thailand in 1991.

Departing Australia in the 1991 Darwin to Ambon Race, Summersalt was the only boat in the fleet without a Sat Nav or GPS, yet we still managed 4th across the line and to win the Multihull division on handicap. After taking line honours and setting a still standing record in the Ambon to Bitung Race, a more leisurely cruise followed through Indonesian waters to Thailand. Lack of funds meant a return to Australia early the following year with the 2 handed, 2500 mile passage through Indonesia to Thursday Island taking 18 days.

Returning to Cairns I settled there or a couple of years to concentrate on designing the Whitehaven series of performance cruising catamarans and the Firefly 850.

At the end of 1993 I again cruised Summersalt down the Queensland coast to the Noosa River where Ross Blair and I built Majeak, the first Whitehaven 11.1 to be launched.

With the cruising bug biting I again set off on Summersalt for Thailand, leaving the plan sales and back-up service in Ross’s capable hands.
Summersalt again joined the 1995 Darwin to Ambon Race, followed by the spectacular Arung Sumudra, Bali to Jakaka Race with 110 yachts and 20 tall ships competing.

A more leisurely cruise followed to Phuket, the long way via Koh Samui on the east coast of Thailand.

Soon after arriving in Phuket, I skippered a 42’ Swan, (yes that’s a monouhull) on a delivery from Phuket to Djibouti, at the entrance to the Red Sea. Although a well designed and equipped and seaworthy yacht, I had some difficulty with the unfamiliar motion, especially the rock and roll when running downwind. Most of my cruising miles had been done whilst running comfortably downwind on a multihull.

After a few years cruising the waters of South East Asia I settled in Phuket working at Latitude 8 Yachts building and developing a range of catamarans for their bareboat charter fleet, all developments of my earlier designs.

At present I am designing new catamarans including a range of fuel efficient power cats as well as updating the Whitehaven and Firefly catamarans.